The first Featured Poet is Ted Slade,
who is the owner of the Poetry Kit and someone whos
contribution to poetry on the internet is
immeasurable. Ted also has the distinction of
posting the very first piece of post to the PK List on
26th October 2000.

He is also, as you will see from the
pieces below, a fine poet. We are very pleased that
he has taken the time and agreed to be the first in this
series.

JJ Howard

____________________________________________________________________

TED SLADE

I was born in Hull in 1937, but in
1939 my parents moved to the nearby

seaside town of Withernsea. So I spent
my early days playing happily on

the beach, and the nights being
entertained by the sight of German

bombers flying into the searchlights
and anti-aircraft fire over my

birthplace. At age 11 I spent one term
at the local comprehensive, which

I loved, then we moved back to Hull
and I got a place at the old and

venerable Grammar School, which I
hated. From there I went to university

in Nottingham (BSc Metallurgy), then
in 1959 to London, where I have

lived and worked more or less ever
since. In 1976 I married Maria Teresa

from Portugal.

Although I was born with a severe
kyphoscoliosis my parents and teachers

never encouraged me think of it as a
handicap, and so until 12 years ago

I led an active working life -
technical writer, PR, journalist, market

analyst, businessman, globe-trotter.
Then my health began to

deteriorate. I had to slow down. For 8
years I worked as a computer

network manager at my local
university, finally taking early retirement

in 1997.

I have always read and written poetry,
although for many years I binned

all that I wrote. Only when my working
life slowed down did I begin to

write regularly and with some purpose.
Apart from the unworldly material

we were obliged to learn at school -
poems about highwaymen and heroic